Conservatives used to vote for the party before PO moved sharply to the left on economic (e.g., increase of taxes) and social issues (e.g., support for civil unions). Areas that are more likely to vote for PO are in the west and north of the country, especially parts of the former Prussia before 1918.
PO voters tend to be those people who generally benefited from European integration and economic liberalisation since 1989 and are satisfied with their life standard.
Civic Platform is a member of the European People's Party (EPP). The party was formed in 2001 as a split from Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS), under the leadership of Andrzej Olechowski and Maciej Płażyński, with Donald Tusk of the Freedom Union (UW).
In the 2001 general election, PO emerged as the largest opposition party, behind the ruling centre-left party Democratic Left Alliance (SLD).
Following the Smolensk disaster of April 2010, Bronisław Komorowski became the first President from PO in the 2010 presidential election. ==History== The Civic Platform was founded in 2001 as economically liberal, Christian-democratic split from existing parties.
PO remained the second-largest party at the 2005 general election, but this time behind the national-conservative party Law and Justice (PiS).
They stood separately only in Mazovia. In 2005, PO led all opinion polls with 26% to 30% of public support.
However, in the 2005 general election, in which it was led by Jan Rokita, PO polled only 24.1% and unexpectedly came second to the 27% garnered by Law and Justice (PiS).
Yet the putative coalition parties had a falling out in the wake of the fiercely contested Polish presidential election of 2005. Lech Kaczyński (PiS) won the second round of the presidential election on 23 October 2005 with 54% of the vote, ahead of Tusk, the PO candidate.
At the polls, Komorowski defeated Jarosław Kaczyński, ensuring PO dominance over the current Polish political landscape. In November 2010, local elections granted Civic Platform about 30.1 percent of the votes and PiS at 23.2 percent, an increase for the former and a drop for the latter compared to the 2006 elections. PO succeeded in winning four consecutive elections (a record in post-communist Poland), and Tusk remains as kingmaker.
Since its creation, the party has shown strong electoral performances in the City of Warsaw, the west, and the north of Poland. Civic Platform came to power following the 2007 general election as the major coalition partner in Poland's government, with party leader Donald Tusk as Prime Minister of Poland.
In 2007, Civic Platform overtook PiS, now established as the dominant parties, and formed a coalition government with the Polish People's Party.
PO became the opposition to this PiS-led coalition government. The PiS-led coalition fell apart in 2007 amid corruption scandal with Andrzej Lepper and Tomasz Lipiec and internal leadership disputes.
These events led to the new elections in 2007.
In the 21 October 2007 parliamentary election, PO won 41.51% of the popular vote and 209 out of 460 seats (now 201) in the Sejm and 60 out of 100 seats (now 56) in the Senate of Poland.
In 2010 Civic Platform candidate Bronisław Komorowski was elected as President of Poland, but failed in running for re-election in 2015.
Following the Smolensk disaster of April 2010, Bronisław Komorowski became the first President from PO in the 2010 presidential election. ==History== The Civic Platform was founded in 2001 as economically liberal, Christian-democratic split from existing parties.
Civic Platform, now the largest party in both houses of parliament, subsequently formed a coalition with the Polish People's Party (PSL). At the 2010 Polish presidential election, following the Smolensk air disaster which killed the incumbent Polish president Lech Kaczyński, Tusk decided not to present his candidature, considered an easy possible victory over PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński.
At the polls, Komorowski defeated Jarosław Kaczyński, ensuring PO dominance over the current Polish political landscape. In November 2010, local elections granted Civic Platform about 30.1 percent of the votes and PiS at 23.2 percent, an increase for the former and a drop for the latter compared to the 2006 elections. PO succeeded in winning four consecutive elections (a record in post-communist Poland), and Tusk remains as kingmaker.
Tusk was re-elected as Prime Minister in the 2011 general election but stepped down three years later to assume the post of President of the European Council.
The party refrained from implementing the flat tax, increasing instead the value-added tax from 22% to 23% in 2011.
In 2013, the Civic Platform's government introduced public funding of in vitro fertilisation program.
Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz led the party in the 2015 general election but was defeated by the Law and Justice party.
On 16 November 2015 Civic Platform government stepped down after exactly 8 years in power.
In 2010 Civic Platform candidate Bronisław Komorowski was elected as President of Poland, but failed in running for re-election in 2015.
All text is taken from Wikipedia. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License .
Page generated on 2021-08-05